38 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
him who is discussing a “Henry Clay,” the fumes of 
which he assures you are good for plants, which,we say, 
enjoy anything more than smoke. If he is really good- 
natured he will give you as much for a summer’s plea¬ 
sure in the garden as his cigars would cost him in a 
week; if not, you must “save in something else” in 
order to beautify your homes. 
At all events have flowers now, while the storm 
beats without and the thermometer marks zero, for 
now is the time to enjoy them. * ‘ But where shall we 
get them,” you ask; surely from the catalogues that 
are coming in from all quarters, for what garden ever 
contained half so many flowers as we find in catalogues, 
and what flowers are half so beautiful as are those we 
see there? We think the greatest pleasure outside of 
the garden is the thought of having a garden, and one, 
too, of our own arrangement, the labor of our own hands. 
And now what is there to prevent, when there is so 
much of the beautiful in new forms, or, at least, in new 
names, to select? Here are colored plates of flowers, 
old and new; some of them have had at least two or 
three new births within the last hundred years. 
We like catalogues ; they are food and drink to our 
hungry imaginations. From every one of them we can 
fill a hundred gardens with such flowers as only the 
imagination can produce. Those are from the “ novel¬ 
ties” offered, and it is well that we enjoy them when in 
the seed-form, as it is doubtful, in many cases, if we 
can do so afterward. Aside from the things we do not 
know, there is infinite pleasure in reading about the 
things we do know. When we read of Roses we see 
the plants in full bloom, as good as the best we ever 
saw. When we read of Gladiolus we see them in 
clumps, in beds, in rows, among shrubbery, and in 
every conceivable place where a bulb can be planted. 
So enthusiastic do we get that we hasten to the store¬ 
room to see if our bulbs are all right and safe in their 
winter quarters. As we look further, and to the end of 
the list, we see all the flowers plainly before us—as 
though every plant was in full bloom, and with much 
more satisfaction, as there are no enemies to contend 
with, no storm to break down our favorite plants, no 
rose-bugs in the buds, no aphis, no canker nor blight. 
Now, we can have our gardens of pleasant flowers and 
no gardener to vex and annoy them; none to tie up our 
weeds and throw our Roses into the street: none to cut 
away the flowering shoots and leave the leaf-buds to 
grow. There is no one now to dig up our bulbs to plant 
in some one else’s garden. But all is pleasure and 
profit, and our paper-gardens, besides everything in 
them, is everblooming; daily we look through them and 
the same flowers are always fresh and smiling. For a 
change we look over the seeds saved last year for our 
next planting, and here the same joy awaits us; our 
memories of the past are pleasant, our hopes for the 
next year are bright with promise, for the seeds we 
saved we know to be of the best varieties, and. by our own 
efforts in selection and cross-fertilization, we expect to 
improve upon the already seemingly perfect forms. 
We earnestly urge our readers to get good cata¬ 
logues, read them carefully, buy to the extent of their 
ability, and persuade their friends to do the same. 
NOISETTE ROSES. 
The Noisette Roses, of which there are now about 
twenty-five varieties in cultivation, belong to the garden 
rather than to the exhibition stage, and in consequence 
do not perhaps obtain that attention which those who 
are acquainted with their distinctive characteristics, 
and appreciate their many good qualities, may consider 
them to deserve. One of the strongest points in their 
favor is their hardiness as compared with the Tea- 
scented varieties, to which they are the most closely 
allied, both in the character of the growth and the color 
of the flowers. Whilst the largest proportion of the 
Noisettes are sufficiently hardy to be grown with suc¬ 
cess in all but the most unfavorable districts, we have 
in the group rich yellows, delicate flesh, light rose, 
pale sulphur, and other shades of color, which the 
Noisettes alone and the Teas afford. The flowers are 
mostly of small size as compared with those of the 
other groups ; but they are borne in large clusters, 
and produced freely and continuously until a late period 
of the summer. They are also decidedly sweet. 
The Noisettes are probably not seen to greater advan¬ 
tage than when trained to walls and pillars, and al¬ 
lowed cons'derable latitude in growth. When so grpwn 
they have an exceedingly elegant appearance, and if 
the soil is in a condition favorable to support a vigorous 
growth, they will surprise those who are not well ac¬ 
quainted with their peculiarities, with then- freedom of 
flowering and their extreme effectiveness. It is not 
alone as climbing Roses that the varieties forming this 
important group have claims for consideration. They 
mostly form excellent standards, and the point is well 
worthy the consideration of the rosarian, whether it is 
not much better to grow the Noisettes as standards, 
than to attempt the culture of the morft tender Teas 
in that form, 
They afford similar colors, they bloom with remark¬ 
able freedom, and all but the more tender varieties that 
have been obtained from crosses effected between the 
true Noisettes and the Teas can be depended upon to 
pass uninjured through winters in which the weather is 
not severe enough to cut down the hybrid perpetuals. 
We know that by lifting in the autumn, carefully pro¬ 
tecting through the winter, and replanting in the 
spring, standard Teas can be kept safely through a 
severe winter. But these several operations require 
time, and in many gardens they impose a very 
heavy tax upon those in charge. It is a manifest ad¬ 
vantage when a standard, bearing yellow or flesh-col¬ 
ored flowers is required, to plant one able to brave the 
weather of an ordinary winter, rather than a variety 
that must have protection from a frost of moderate 
severity. Where the time and material requisite for 
their protection are both available the cultivation of the 
standard Teas may be indulged in at the discretion of 
